Former Rockets’ center Omer Asik said that he was going to miss Houston and was grateful for his time with the Rockets.

Asik, the only NBA player on the Turkish national team, is preparing for the FIBA World Championships taking place later this month in Spain.

Just before coming back to Turkey this summer, he found out he would be traded to the New Orleans Pelicans. Asik said he was excited for the opportunity and that he would miss the people in the Rockets organization and his teammates.

He said there were no hard feelings toward the franchise despite the early season drama that surrounded the team’s acquisition of Dwight Howard. Asik, a former starter, had been made a backup to Howard and then suffered a series of leg injuries. Despite the tough year, he was key in the postseason, starting alongside Howard against the Blazers and giving the Rockets the “twin towers” look that they were after when the season started.

Warriors guard Stephen Curry has high hopes after becoming an All-Star for the first time last season.

“I’m trying to establish myself as the best point guard in the league, and just that that quest for a championship is something that I value highly,” Curry told CBS Sports Radio on Wednesday.

New coach Steve Kerr, who as a TNT broadcaster gave Curry a vote for the All-NBA second team last season, will look to help his star player get there by taking some pressure off the guard who carried the load for Mark Jackson’s offense.

According to associate head coach Alvin Gentry, that means taking the ball out of Curry’s hands more often with big men doing more passing so that the All-Star doesn’t have to work as hard every night to score.

Phoenix Suns guard Isaiah Thomas today underwent a successful arthroscopy of his left wrist, the team has announced. He is expected to participate fully in the team’s training camp. The procedure was performed by Dr. Michelle Carlson at the Hospital for Special Surgeries in New York.

The Suns acquired Thomas from the Sacramento Kings in a sign-and-trade on July 12. A product of the University of Washington, Thomas is a three-year NBA veteran who averaged career-highs of 20.3 points on 45.3 percent shooting, 6.3 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 72 games with the Kings last season. For his career, Thomas holds averages of 15.3 points on 44.7 percent shooting from the field, 36.0 percent from behind the arc and 85.7 percent from the stripe.

Here’s the New York Post reporting on Knicks star forward Carmelo Anthony. Note that in our opinion, the angle and lighting in the photo above probably exaggerates the amount of weight Melo lost. Sure, he got thinner, but the photo makes him look like a skinny teenager. Guess we’ll find out once training camp opens in September. Here’s the Post:

Carmelo Anthony took a $5 million pay cut on his new contract, but it appears he took a bigger cut in weight. According to an Anthony confidant, Anthony has done so in order to resemble his physique as a rookie with the Nuggets and to be more viable in Phil Jackson’s triangle offense.

A photo of Anthony this week on his Instagram showed what appeared to be a dramatic weight loss since the season ended. Anthony, who turned 30 on May 29, looks younger with the weight loss.

“He wants to be as athletic as he was when he was a rookie,’’ the confidant told The Post. “Plus he wants to be a facilitator in the triangle and speed will help that.’’